Lebanon

Lebanon

LEBANON

Since 2013, we have opened three centres in or near refugee camps in Lebanon with each one containing a school and a women’s centre. While our main work in these centres is to provide education and vocational training to refugees, we also provide other services such as aid distribution.

CENTRES FOR REFUGEES

We run three centres for refugees in Lebanon. Each centre has a school and a training centre for women:

In each of our centres in Lebanon, we run a catch-up education program for young refugees who would otherwise miss out on a key part of their early learning. The programme aims to prepare them for entry tests to the Lebanese public school system.

We also run educational support programmes for older children, as well as awareness sessions and psychological support for children and young people.

Women’s centres

We run vocational training and psychological support programmes in our women’s centres.

Many of the women who come to our centres have lost a husband or a father, and need to make the difficult transition to becoming a breadwinner as well as a carer. In addition, we offer support to younger women who are vulnerable to child and early marriage.

Our courses are designed provide these women, young and old, with the skills and psychological tools to make a new life for themselves.

OTHER ACTIVITIES

Our mission is to alleviate the suffering of the refugees living in Lebanon. To this end, we undertake a number of activities.

We follow up the training and education provided in our centres with awareness sessions for mothers. These awareness sessions focus on topics as childcare, protection, health and hygiene. In addition, we also organise home visits to gain a better understanding of the particular living situation and needs of each of our beneficiaries. In a small number of cases, e.g. when refugees are suffering from violence in their communities and their homes, we refer these cases to suitable NGOs.

We provide clothing to those in need as part of our 25 tonnes of hope campaign and in addition, we provide aid and assistance to those most in need.

We regularly organise kermes, or fun days out for children. These include plays put on by the children, in addition to the usual face painting, games, clown shows and so on.

We encourage and organise meetings between Syrians and Lebanese citizens in order to foster cross-cultural dialogue and integration.

LEBANON VOLUNTEER PROGRAMME

We are grateful for the invaluable contributions of the many volunteers in our centres in Beirut and Arsal in 2015.

In 2016 we launched a new programme for international volunteers. This program offers volunteers the chance to join our centres in Beirut and Saida and teach in the schools and make a difference in peoples’ lives.